Les Trois Vallées (; ''The Three Valleys'') is a ski region in the

Tarentaise Valley The Tarentaise Valley (french: Vallée de la Tarentaise, ; frp, Tarentèsa) is a valley of the Isère River in the heart of the French Alps, located in the Savoy region of France. The valley is named for the ancient town of ''Darantasia'', the ...

in the

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, to the south of the town of

Moûtiers Moûtiers (; Arpitan: ''Motiérs''), historically also called Tarentaise, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 3,511. Moûtiers is the main access point ...

, partly in

Vanoise National Park Vanoise National Park (french: Parc national de la Vanoise) is a French national park between the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys in the French Alps, containing the Vanoise massif. It was created in 1963 as the first national park in France. ...

. Since 1971, it has been possible to ski the interlinked valleys using a single ski pass. Thus, Les Trois Vallées is the largest connected ski area in the world which is linked solely by ski lifts and slopes. It claims to have about of ski slopes, resulting in 18.5 km² of groomed runs, while an independent expert measured about 493 km. In addition, there are 120 km for cross-country skiing. Les Trois Vallées has 183 ski lifts, which can transport 260,000 skiers per hour. Other equipment owned by the operating companies include 2,300 snow cannons and 73

snow grooming Snow grooming is the process of manipulating snow for recreational uses with a tractor, snowmobile, piste caterpillar, truck or snowcat towing specialized equipment. The process is used to maintain ski hills, cross-country ski trails and snowm ...

machines operated by 160 snow groomers who work in shifts during the night. Other employees in the area include 424 ski patrollers and 3,000 ski instructors.Safety is Paramount for Carefree Skiing
/ref> As implied by its name, the area originally consisted of three valleys: Saint-Bon, Allues, and Belleville. The skiing area has since been extended into a 'fourth' valley, the Maurienne valley. It is adjacent to Val Thorens, but can also be accessed using a long

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...

from Orelle. The following

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

s are in Les Trois Vallées:

Tarentaise Valley Skiing

Within the

, there are various other resorts such as

Paradiski Paradiski is a ski-area in the Tarentaise Valley of France that offers uninterrupted skiing in between the areas of Les Arcs, Peisey-Vallandry and La Plagne. The area is linked, since December 2003, by the Vanoise Express lift. In total over the ...

( Les Arcs, La Plagne) and

Espace Killy Espace may refer to: *ESPACE, a complexity class in computational complexity theory *Espace musique, a Canadian radio service *Espace 2, a Swiss radio station *Radio Espace, a French radio station *Espace Group, a French media company *Group Espace ...

(

Val d'Isère Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a So ...

and

Tignes Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good tr ...

). A weekly lift ticket in Les Trois Vallées used to allow one to ski one day in each of the other two systems mentioned although this has now been removed. There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create the – by far – largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the

References

External links

Les Trois Vallées official website
*(https://www.skiline.co.uk/blog/10-best-ski-runs-in-the-three-valleys) {{DEFAULTSORT:Trois Vallees Ski areas and resorts in France Geography of Savoie Tourist attractions in Savoie Sports venues in Savoie

Tarentaise Valley Skiing

See also

References

External links